Sunday, 30 June 2013

Author's note: This piece was written on 27 /6/2013. It is being posted today, because I was unable to do so on the day. Please read on:

Apparently, consultants for the proposed 2,000 megawatt Ketu Power
Project (KPP), Finite Earth Consult, led by a Mr. Mayor Agbleze, want
the Ghana government to invest in their independent power producer (IPP)
project.

One certainly hopes it is not a cash investment from hard-pressed taxpayers that they seek. Ghana's private sector cannot eat its cake and have it.

If we want the private sector to be the engine of growth, then let the
private sector be creative enough, to raise cash for all the projects
it dreams up.

If they are so sure of the success of the KPP, why does Finite Earth
Consult not approach wealthy private investors, such as HRH Prince
Alwaleed Bin Talal, of Kingdom Holding Company, who has the money, and
has demonstrated his faith in Ghana, by investing in the Movenpick
Hotel, to fund the KPP project?

Finite Earth Consult can also talk to Idan Heavey, the founder and CEO
of Tullow Oil - who might have ideas that could be useful to the
promoters of the KPP.

There are also sovereign wealth funds, such as those of Norway,
Singapore and China, which invest in worthwhile projects. Why do the
promoters of the KPP not approach some of them?

The golden age of business for crony-capitalists in Ghana is over.

With respect, the government of Ghana cannot be a bank of last resort
for wealthy individuals - who cannot raise funds for their own
projects.

Hapless Ghanaian taxpayers will no longer tolerate that, alas. For that
reason, the government of Ghana cannot invest In the Ketu power
project.

Let the promoters of the Ketu power project focus on raising money to
fund the project from the private-sector instead, to make it a 100
percent private-sector funded project - and set a worthy example to be
emulated by the promoters of other private-sector projects in Ghana. A
word to the wise...

Author's note: This piece was written on 25/6/2013. It is being posted today, because I was unable to do so on the day. Please read on:

Looking at photographs of scenes of the results of lawlessness at
Ashiaman in the pages of this morning's newspapers (25/6/2013), one
wonders what those law-abiding citizens living there, whose lives were
turned upside down by the unfortunate events, felt, during the few
hours when law and order broke down completely, in parts of Ashiaman.

Whatever the reason for the violence by a section of Ashiaman's
residents, the destruction they caused, can never be justified under
any circumstances - and must be condemned in the strongest possible
terms.

Violence and chaos serve no purpose and only set nations back.

Recovering from the destruction wrought by violence and chaos brought
about by political and ethnic tensions, for example, takes years - as we
have seen in places like Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast.

That is why it is so important that Ghanaian politicians eschew the kind
of needless brinkmanship, which could tip our country over the
precipice - and destroy the gains Ghana has made after decades of
sacrifice on the part of ordinary people: who have borne the brunt of
the painful reforms that have made sustained economic growth possible
today.

Now, more than ever, Ghanaians need to come together, to ensure that ours remains a peaceful and tolerant society.

Ghana needs mature and responsible politicians, who understand the
overriding importance, of maintaining a peaceful atmosphere in the
country - to ensure that confidence in Ghana amongst investors is not
shaken and lost.

Jobs come with investment - and no investment can take place in a nation racked by chaos and violence.

Let the unfortunate events in Ashiaman yesterday, serve as a lesson to
all Ghanaians - of where our nation could end up: if we allow power-
hungry and power-drunk politicians to continue getting away with not
delivering the democracy dividend (of nationwide development beneficial
to all) to ordinary people; but rather expend their energies and
resources dividing Ghanaian society, to either win power or continue
remaining in power.

Above all, let the terrible events in Ashiaman yesterday, serve as a wake up call to our political class.

They must cooperate across party lines more frequently, and work hard to
develop the whole country. Violence simply does not make sense for a
nation with aspirations.

Sunday, 23 June 2013

If Ghanaians want to have a 21st century power industry, which provides
reliable round-the-clock electricity, then there is a need for the
country's ruling elites to take a radical approach to reforming the
national economy's power-sector.

With the mounting challenges facing the power sector's state-owned
entities, the question is: has the time not come for the enterprise
Ghana to leave the provision of electricity to the private sector?

It is obvious that the state-owned entities in Ghana's power sector need
massive amounts of investment funds to modernise their plant and
equipment.

Clearly, that cannot come from a cash-strapped government.
Yet, modernise our power sector we must, if our nation is to grow and prosper.

Why do we therefore not marry our need for investment funds to modernise
the state-owned entities in the power sector (which the government
cannot provide), to the need for new markets by Japanese companies to
enable them expand and prosper in the long-term?

My humble suggestion, is that the President invites the leaders of
Japan's power industry to Ghana, to see for themselves first hand, the
lucrative potential market awaiting them in West Africa: exporting
electricity from a solid Ghanaian base.

Between them, a consortium of Japanese power companies and the
country's mutual-fund industry, could easily buy the Electricity
Company of Ghana (ECG); Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO); the Volta River
Authority (VRA); and the Bui Power Authority (BPA) in one mega-deal
worth a few billions, informed by a long-term perspective.

Modernising those newly-acquired Ghanaian power companies quickly, will
be in their interest - to put them on a profitable path, which will
enable the Japanese consortium to start recouping its investment.

Perhaps a separate deal with the Ghana National Gas Company (GNGC),
could empower the Japanese to develop their own pipelines and
infrastructure, for the supply of natural gas directly from offshore
Ghanaian oilfields, so that they can always have an assured supply of
natural gas for their Ghanaian thermal power plants.

And if those negotiating on Ghana's behalf take a leaf from Mr. Martin
Amidu's book, and think of our nation's interest - as opposed to
seeing it as an opportunity to receive secret kickbacks - they could
persuade the Japanese consortium to pay a premium price for those
state-owned utility companies, and assume all their debt too.

That will make the government's exit from the power industry a
profitable one. It will also set a precedent for future privatisations
of state-owned enterprises - in which maximum value is derived from
government's exit from a particular industry or state-owned enterprise:
rather than Ghana ending up receiving peanuts for deliberately
undervalued assets, and being saddled with mountains of debt on top
of fire-sale tragedies.

The opportunity to best its ache-rival China, in a win-win model-deal in
an emerging market in fast-growing Africa, which can be contrasted
sharply with the bitterness evoked by China's hard-as-nails
Shylock-type loans being extended to nations across the continent
(such as the controversial US$3 billion loan to Ghana), will be hard
to resist for Japan.

Japan, unfortunately, has seen its past generosity to Africa put in the
shade, by China's aggressive grab for natural resources in Africa -
made palatable by the provision of funding for infrastructure projects
throughout the continent.

With matured home markets, and an economy in which growth is less than
snail-pace, Japanese industry is desperate for new markets overseas,
to provide it with growth.

That is why this is the perfect time - especially with a President in
power today, who has a lot of goodwill amongst Japan's ruling elites,
because of his past association with Japan's diplomatic mission here -
to sell ECG, GRIDCO, the VRA and BPA to Japanese power companies.

Author's note: This piece was written on 20/6/2013. It is being posted today, because I was unable to do so on the day. Please read on:

The cynicism and bile elicited by an article of mine posted online
(entitled: "Helping Ghanaians In The Diaspora Execute Projects
Successfully"), suggesting an untapped Diasporan business opportunity
existed, for reputable financial services sector companies in Ghana -
and that perhaps they ought to consider offering a service enabling
Ghanaians living overseas, to successfully complete their projects in
Ghana from their bases abroad - illustrates perfectly the depths to
which public morality seems to have sunk in Ghana.

Abuse from strangers one does not know - many immature adults from
their inane and abusive comments on articles they couldn't possibly
have read with any comprehension: judging by their reaction - can be
expected on some online platforms, but that so many people who
commented on the article seemed to actually believe that no honest
individuals can be found anywhere in Ghana, is worrying in the extreme.

Of course, not all Ghanaians hold such negative views about themselves
and those they know - and it will do Ghanaian society no good at all,
if our children and their children's children, were to become
infected by the cynical and limiting viewpoint that we are a dishonest
people.

Yes, we must go through life being careful, to ensure that we are not
taken advantage of, by dishonest people - who are to be found in every
nation on the surface of the planet Earth, incidentally - but we must
not be so negative as to believe that there aren't many Martin Amidus
in Ghanaian society, for example. Indeed, there are.

It is true that there are many not-so-honest individuals in Ghana -
just as there are everywhere else in the world, for that matter - but
not all Ghanaians have been infected by the money-at-all-costs-virus
that makes some lose their values and bearings.

At any rate, most of the people I personally know, are people with
values, who are men and women of integrity. In that old-fashioned
world, helping each other, is not a shady-business-opportunity to rip
one another off.

In light of such socially destructive cynicism amongst the
commentariat, I am certainly glad I did not grow up in a Ghana, in
which having values and integrity, meant one was an oddball and a
fool.

I admit to the fact that I am no saint myself - I have a vile temper, I
am ashamed to say. And I can be very mean: I hate flies and mosquitoes -
both of which I annihilate on sight, when spotted, with water-based
pyretherium insecticide.

Let the cynics who think every Ghanaian in Ghana is a crook, speak for themselves.

Luckily for me, the everyday world I inhabit in the Ghana of today, as I
edge towards my 60th year on this earth, is still full of individuals
with values and integrity. Thank goodness, for such little mercies, say
I.

Author's note: This piece was written on 19/6/2013. It is being posted today, because I was unable to do so, on the day. Please read on:

Over the years I have come across horrific stories of betrayal, in
which close family members and friends, of Ghanaians in the Diaspora,
have duped those hard-working Ghanaians residing overseas - who have
sent various sums of money to Ghana for projects, which never
materialised.

Instead of having to go through the hassle and loss of
hard-to-replace-cash involved in finding reliable and honest individuals
they can count on, on a trial-and-error basis, surely, there ought to
be businesses in Ghana, which could specialise in overseeing sundry
projects financed by Ghanaians in the Diaspora, who have no trusted individuals they can rely on in Ghana?

Currently, for example, my partner and I are committed to helping a
childhood friend, who works and resides in the United States of
America, to successfully execute projects that have previously stalled -
for lack of reliable oversight in the execution of the
multi-faceted projects.

Although doing so on a purely voluntary basis, and only working to help a team
he has put together himself, we shall ensure that no one takes him for a ride -
as our own integrity will be at stake. Being old-fashioned, our word
is our bond - so we intend to help him successfully realise all his
plans.

It is Ghanaians like him who will help create jobs in Ghana and help make our nation prosperous - so the authorities must find a way to assist them, by creating finacial instruments they can invest in to help Ghana grow and prosper from.

Why does the government not encourage pension funds in Ghana to set up mutual funds, to which it could offer some of its dollar-based sovereign bonds to, and which Ghanaians in the Diaspora could invest in, for example?

Wealth management teams of financial services sector
companies, which cater to the high net worth individuals niche, ought to also
think of assisting individuals in the Diaspora such as my childhood
friend - by offering them a blue-chip service that enables them
successfully complete their projects from their overseas bases: safe
in the knowledge that the best architects, surveyors, quantity
surveyors, building engineers, lawyers, etc., and the highest quality
building materials, will be used in the execution of their projects.

Food for thought for innovative and dynamic companies like the UT Group
and Guardian Assurance perhaps? A bespoke service, with regular status
reports, helping high net worth Ghanaians in the Diaspora, to execute
their projects in Ghana successfully, could turn out to be a very
lucrative niche for Ghana's financial services sector indeed.

Author's note: This piece was written on 18/6/2013. It is being posted today, because I was unable to do so on the day. Please read on:

Today, global public opinion, including that of political leaderships
worldwide, want to see an end to banking secrecy, in tax havens.

For decades, that banking secrecy in tax havens, has enabled
corruptly-obtained money around the world, to be salted away in secret
offshore bank accounts in tax havens.

The question for patriotic, one-nation Ghanaians is: since the climate
is now more favourable, why do the Ghanaian authorities not work
together with the Federal Swiss government, to use the law courts in
Switzerland, to unravel the mystery of the supposed US$30-plus billions
allegedly sitting in a Swiss bank, and which apparently is for the
people of Ghana?

Could that cash not be invested in long-term paper in Switzerland
itself, on Ghana's behalf, by the bank in which the account is said to
be held - and the coupon used to pay some of the interest on Ghana's
mountain of foreign debt, and to retire some of that debt at term's
end, one wonders?

That will enable the Ghanaian authorities to cut taxes levied on
businesses, for example - something which will help companies in Ghana to expand and
employ more people: who currently are not in paid employment.

The taxpayers of Switzerland too, would also benefit from such a move - as the Swiss government would not have to provide Ghana with any official aid, were those funds, if they exist, to be released to the Ghanaian authorities.

Surely, with global public opinion ranged against banking secrecy in
tax havens, the time has now come for Ghana to use the Swiss law courts,
to enable the government unravel the mystery of the supposed Oman
Ghana Trust billions in a bank in Switzerland? A word to the wise...

Author's note: This piece was written on 18/6/2013. It is being posted today, because I was unable to do so on the day. Please read on:

I have often wondered what the views of the hard-working and
prosperous middle-class people in the neighbourhood I live, really are,
when contentious national issues have come up for debate, in the court
of public opinion.

Those hard-working and prosperous Ghanaians, who live in my
neighbourhood, are a natural constituency for the New Patriotic Party
(NPP).

Clearly, if the NPP wants to continue holding on to the support of this
particular demographic in Ghanaian society, the party must distance
itself from the old-style Ghanaian politics - in which cynical and
extremist politicians often hire thugs, petty criminals and
muscled-spongers as "enforcers", to dish out insults and physical
punishment to independent minds, such as the party's Charles
Wireko-Brobbeys and Kwame Pianims.

For such fair-minded and hard-working middle-class Ghanaians of good
conscience, who also believe in the enterprise Ghana, the question is:
should the NPP not be presenting Ghanaians with alternative policies,
whenever criticising the regime currently in power in Ghana, and
gaining more new converts to its cause that way - instead of the endless
insults and negativity, which is now standard fare for its small army
of "communicators", many of whom wax lyrical, doom-mongering on the
airwaves of radio and television stations across the nation, and only
end up putting off so many independent-minded, patriotic and apolitical
Ghanaians, as a result of their cynicism and endless negativity?

The intolerance shown by political parties in Ghana to
independent-minds, is worrying in the extreme. Democracy is not only
just a system of government - it is also a way of life based on
tolerance. Cutting-edge and innovative ideas seldom evolve from groups
and societies that are intolerant of dissenting views.

Little wonder that party manifestos in Ghana seldom contain creative ideas that are truly transformational.

It is not surprising that geniuses, who for blinkered and cynical
political reasons, even criticise Supreme Court judges and accuse them
of scarring off foreign investors - for ruling against foreign crooks
running dodgy businesses here, which defraud the Ghanaian nation-state
to the tune of some tens of millions of euros, by fraudulently
securing judgement-debt orders in the law courts against the Republic of
Ghana - hold sway in the NPP of today. Incredible.

What, one wonders, are we then to make of regulators in the bastions of capitalism,
the UK and the US, which not too long ago, slapped fines of billions
of dollars on leading banks guilty of manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), for example, I ask?

Did they drive away investors from the UK and the USA, in droves, in acting against banks engaged in what some would describe as near-criminal behaviour - going by the strange logic of that NPP hardliner and genius?

It is those selfsame geniuses who have driven the NPP's fleet of Yutong
buses to the end of so many metaphorical cul-de-sacs that they seem
unable to reverse out of.

Let the pragmatists and one-nation politicians in the NPP, grab the
steering wheels of their party's fleet of Yutong buses, from the
unsteady hands of those smug, arrogant and incompetent drivers,
whose poor map-reading skills lead only to cul-de-sacs, before December
2016 steals up on them.

The vast majority of ordinary Ghanaians are simply fed up with the
nation-wrecking politics of violence, insults and intolerance.

That is why the NPP must change course - and move away from the path
of intolerance and endless negativity, before it becomes too late to
do so.

Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo and the party's prosperous middle-class
silent-majority-base - as well as the ordinary people of Ghana who are
inconvenienced by all that negativity - definitely deserve better.
The NPP's moderates must seize control of their party now. A word to the
wise...

Saturday, 15 June 2013

Years ago, I wrote an article urging the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to
take steps to enable Ghana switch to certified organic cocoa
production.

It was read by the then Finance Minister, the Hon. Baah-Wiredu of
blessed memory - who thanked me for what he said was an insightful
article.

That was typical of the late Baah-Wiredu - who was aware that I had
authored many articles that were extremely critical of the New
Patriotic Party (NPP) regime of President Kufuor.

What mattered to him, was that my article pointed the way to the future, for Ghana's cocoa industry.

The upshot of it, is that when the Hon. Baah-Wiredu accompanied
President Kufuor to Switzerland on an official visit, the President had
a meeting with the Ghanaian community in Switzerland - at which the
then finance minister apparently engaged a young Ghanaian resident in
Switzerland, Mr. Yayra Glover, in a conversation.

Impressed by Mr. Yayra Glover, when asked what he could do to get him to
return to Ghana, Mr. Glover is said to have told the minister that if
given a license to produce and purchase certified organic cocoa for
export, he would return home to set up a business to organise cocoa
farmers to produce and export certified organic cocoa beans to
Switzerland.

Mr. Tony Fofie was the deputy chief executive of the COCOBOD at the time.

It so happened that around that time, I was also trying to help a young
man, Mr. Newton Amaglo - who had the agency for a natural pesticide
made from neem seed oil that was manufactured in India - to get his
natural neem pesticide tested by the Cocoa Research Institute of
Ghana (CRIG) for approval for use by cocoa farmers.

It was then that I met Mr Fofie, who was very helpful and got his male
secretary to arrange for CRIG to test the natural neem seed oil
pesticide.

To the eternal credit of Mr. Fofie, he was quick to grasp the
long-term need for Ghana to switch to organic cocoa production, to
enable it maintain its position as a major producer and exporter of
cocoa beans, in subsequent phone conversations with him at the time.

Indeed, he pointed it out to me that CRIG and the NGO Agro-Eco were
actually involved with a group of organic cocoa farmers at Akwadum in the Eastern Region.

For me, it is entirely fitting that today Mr. Tony Fofie is in charge of the COCOBOD as chief executive.

For it is at precisely the time when someone from Ghana's Western
Region, Madam Christina Nana Armah Amihere, is endeavouring to bring a
company with experience in certified organic production in Belize to
Ghana.

Madam Amihere's vision is to see organic cocoa grown using natural
organic fertiliser, biochar and permaculture methods, creating
sustainable wealth for rural dwellers in her home region, the
Western Region.

The idea is to replicate a certified organic cocoa project that Carbon Gold and Craig Sams have in Belize, here in Ghana too.

Carbon Gold was founded by Mr. Craig Sams, the founder of Whole Earth
Foods and co-founder of Green & Black's, the organic chocolate
company.

Green & Black's was taken over by Cadbury, which in turn was
itself also taken over by Kraft Foods, the US multinational food giant -
but has kept its fairtrade ethos.

When they appeared on the scene, the Belize project was apparently
faced with ruin. The high price they once enjoyed from the buyer of
their beans, had collapsed from US$1.80 to 55¢ a pound.

As providence would have it, Mr. Craig Sams appeared on the scene when
they suffered the price-collapse for their cocoa beans - as a white
knight to the rescue, so to speak.

Mr. Sam's company, Carbon Gold, which produces and sells biochar, wants
to replicate its organic cocoa production success in Belize in Ghana.

It will be a return to West Africa for Green and Black's co-founder, Mr.
Craig Sams - as prior to going to Belize in 1993, Green and Black's
sourced its cocoa beans from Togo.

Political instability in Togo - post-election violence - forced the
company to look for a new supply source, which ended up in Belize.

I am writing this letter to appeal to you to help Madame Amihere
collaborate with Carbon Gold and its founder, Mr. Craig Sams to
replicate their successful Belize organic cocoa project here too - as
my humble contribution to helping Ghana eventually switch to organic
cocoa production, to secure the industry's long-term future.

Since it will qualify as a free-zone entity, who knows, perhaps years
down the road we might even succeed in getting Mr. Sams to build a
factory here, to produce organic chocolate in Ghana's Western Region -
to supply own-brand organic chocolate to supermarket chains in the
UK, the EU, the US, Russia, China and Japan, and create sustainable
wealth and well-paid jobs in the Western Region.

Please do what Mr. Baah-Wiredu did to make possible the Yayra Glover
Project, for the far-sighted and dynamic Madam Amihere - by
encouraging the COCOBOD to give her planned partnership with Carbon
Gold and its founder, a licence to buy and export certified organic
cocoa beans from the farmers they will work with, in the Western
Region, to convert to organic cocoa farming.

At the moment they are actively seeking funding for the proposed project in the Western Region.

Many thanks in advance for your assistance - and Happy Father's Day to you in advance, Sir.

When it transpired recently, that Mr. Randy Abbey had been falsely
accused of causing the arrest of the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) Michael
Omari Wadie, by the Bureau for National Investigations (BNI), what
was lost on those spreading that unpardonable falsehood, was that
today, Randy Abbey, a member of the group of journalists known as the
"Coffee Shop Mafia", appeared to be viewed by some NPP members as a
political turncoat.

It illustrates perfectly, the uniqueness of President Mahama in the
world of Ghanaian politics - in his amazing ability to attract the
loyalty of independent-minded and apolitical individuals who love Ghana
with passion.

It is this special gift the President has, which is the main reason why
his political opponents should never underrate him. They do so at their
own peril. He is a very formidable opponent to have.

For example, in a conversation with the Honourable AIban Bagbin
recently, I was struck by his loyalty to the President - and his
determination to help President Mahama succeed.

"I will do whatever I can to make the President succeed. His success is
my success - and my success is his success. Who Jah bless, let no one
curse!", was the way he put it.

Yet, many would think someone as influential in the National Democratic
Congress (NDC) as the Hon. Bagbin is, would be resentful of the
President, and regard him as a rival.

Incredible though it is, today, there is unity amongst those in the top echelons of the NDC.

Even super-critical former President Rawlings seems to be willing to be open-minded about President
Mahama. And that speaks volumes.

And under President Mahama, the party is shying away from the abusive
politics of the past - whiles its opponents stay with the old-style
politics of never-ending abuse of their political opponents. President
Mahama must be the most abused Ghanaian leader in history.

Yet, quietly, and without fanfare, President Mahama is taking actions
that few thought was possible in Ghana, a nation in which cynicism about
politicians is widespread.

Serious action, including investigations, follow swiftly, once
allegations of corruption against even leading NDC members appear in
the public domain.

The investigations being carried out to ascertain the veracity or
otherwise, of allegations of corruption at the Savannah Accelerated
Development Authority (SADA), and the Ghana Youth Employment and
Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA), are examples.

And at long last, the powerful and wealthy vested interests, behind
most of the illegal gold mining going on in Ghana, have their backs
against the wall - as nationwide action is taken to halt their egregiuos
gang-rape of the Ghanaian countryside.

And who would have thought that a senior figure in the national security
apparatus would be arrested for alleged malfeasance - and the fact made
public immediately?

To defeat such a formidable opponent, the NPP would be wise to swiftly
rid itself of the party's extremists, whose power-winning-strategy is
scorched-earth-politics: in which everything that can contribute to
making the country ungovernable and ensure its decline, is covertly
given wings.

Many ordinary Ghanaians have taken note of this nation-wrecking agenda,
specifically designed to make President Mahama fail - and because of
their innate sense of fairness, and the inconvenience it is causing to
millions of families across the nation, will take it into account,
when the day of reckoning comes around again in December 2016.

In the face of the many challenges confronting his regime, whiles his
opponents take to abusing him, the President and his administration are
working quietly to solve the many problems facing Ghana and its people.

Let his opponents in the NPP beware - they risk being left behind as
Ghana inches forward despite its many challenges. If the President were
to publicly publish his assets and those of his wife today, he will bury
the NPP in December 2016. Even as things stand, he is a very formidable
opponent indeed. A word to the wise...

Thursday, 13 June 2013

The outrageous and shabby story of how Latex Foam was allowed to secure
a judgement debt of some Gh¢207,356.62 (on October 26, 2009), because
the Attorney General's Department failed to contest the case, even
though no formal contract existed between the company and the Ghana@50
Planning Committee, illustrates perfectly, how the carelessness of
much of officialdom has permitted the Republic of Ghana to be
ripped-off by sundry private-sector entities, with complete
impunity, for decades since the overthrow of President Nkrumah in
1966.

To compound the outrage, in that particular instance of the manipulation
of the legal system to milk Mother Ghana dry - by a clever and
well-connected few, who secured a judgement debt of dubious provenance - there was no competitive bidding for the supply of those confounded
mattresses to the Ghana@50 Planning Committee.

What commercial entity, underpinned by corporate good governance
principles, and run by individuals of good conscience, would go to
court, knowing full well that it delivered part of the order for
mattresses to the Ghana@50 Planning Committee, long after the VIP guests
invited to attend the 50th Independence Day anniversary celebrations -
who were to sleep on those apparently tailor-made mattresses - had
departed our shores, I ask?

The time has now come for all our politicians to agree that companies
securing judgement debts against the Republic of Ghana, under dubious
circumstances, will be blacklisted, and barred from bidding for
government contracts, in perpetuity.

Why should such businesses be given yet more of taxpayers' money, when
once upon a time they demanded their pound of flesh in ruthless fashion, without any
consideration for the dire economic situation facing the nation, by
securing judgement debts against the Republic of Ghana, and under
dubious circumstances?

It is important that those who lead our nation, think creatively, when confronted with problems.

Instead of being embarrassed by Virgin Atlantic Airways' decision to
stop flying to Ghana, because of the high cost of aviation fuel, the
minister of transport, the Hon. Dzifa Aku Attivor, ought to seize it as
an opportunity to get Virgin Atlantic Airways and the other airlines
that fly here, to support a bio-diesel initiative in Ghana.

That bio-diesel initiative, will also help repair some of the
environmental damage, caused by illegal gold mining around the country -
killing two birds with one stone, as it were.

The idea, is that all the gold mining companies in Ghana, will be encourage to contribute to an environmental restoration fund.

Out of that fund, rural co-operatives, made up of unemployed people,
will plant vertiver grass and jetropha trees around the country, to
help repair some of the damage to the natural environment, caused by
illegal gold mining.

Vertiver grass has been shown to be very effective in removing toxic material from soils.

Those rural co-operatives, will also plant jetropha trees to supply
jetropha nuts to a number of bio-diesel production units (perhaps
co-owned by the Virgin Group and District Assemblies as PPP projects)
around the country, to produce bio-diesel for Virgin Atlantic Airways
and other interested airlines, which fly to Ghana and are keen to use a
green fuel, as their contribution to the fight against global warming.

The vertiver grass planted by the rural co-operatives, will remove the
poisonous heavy metals and chemicals, which have leeched into the soil,
in areas where gold mining has ended.

Seedlings of vertiver grass for the rural co-operatives to plant around
the country, in areas in the countryside damaged by illegal gold
mining, can be acquired from a 5-acre nursery at Bunso, owned by Dr.
Dale Rachmeler (of Business Advocacy Challenge Fund (BUSAC) fame).

As a CSR initiative, the association of small-scale gold miners could
also pay the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research's (CSIR)
Plant Genetic Resources Centre of Bunso, to produce seedlings of
jetropha for the rural jetropha and vertiver grass planting
co-operatives.

That is a creative solution, which apart from creating jobs in rural
Ghana, will also produce bio-diesel for use by airlines flying in and
out of Ghana - whiles using vertiver grass to repair some of the
environmental damage caused by illegal gold mining in Ghana.

All the airlines that fly to Ghana, could be asked to contribute to a
fund to implement the idea - which will enable each one of them to
enhance their individual corporate image respectively: funding a CSR
bio-diesel (and vertiver grass) initiative, which produces a green fuel
for airlines, and also helps repair the harm caused to the natural environment
by illegal gold miners.

Ghana's minister for transport, the Hon. Dzifa Aku Attivor, can fine-tune
the idea with Virgin Atlantic Airways' highly-creative founder, Sir
Richard Branson, and the other airlines that fly here - to produce a
workable initiative from the seed of the idea I have just planted, which will enable all of them to neutralise the carbon-footprint of their respective fleet of aircraft.

It is a simple and creative solution to address Virgin Atlantic Airways'
concerns, which led to its departure from Ghana. A word to the
wise...

Tuesday, 11 June 2013

For nearly two decades now, I have participated in the dangerous and
lonely fight against the rape of Mother Nature, in what is one of the
most beautiful places on the surface of the planet Earth - the Atewa
Range upland evergreen rainforest.

In the process, I, like others involved in that war, have made many
enemies - many of whom are super-wealthy criminals, who do not care one
jot about the effect of their actions, on their fellow humans and the
natural environment.

So, more than most, I actually know what it entails protecting Mother
Nature from wealthy and powerful individuals, bent on destroying what
has taken millions of years to evolve, in their quest for gold.

My family owns a total freehold landholding of some 14 square miles,
in the Atewa Range upland evergreen rainforest - which is constantly
under threat from hunters, illegal loggers and illegal gold miners.

Being at the sharp end, one therefore approves of the ongoing battle
to halt illegal gold miners and illegal loggers from destroying what is
left of Ghana's natural heritage.

Over the years, I have often despaired at the complacency of much of
officialdom - and been enraged when I have come across corrupt officials
working for the regulatory bodies that are supposed to prosecute
illegal loggers and gold miners, but who rather choose to aid them
escape punishment instead.

At age 60, I am glad to have lived long enough, to have seen for the
very first time, the Ghanaian nation-state actually taking determined
and sustained action, to halt the rape and poisoning of vast swathes of
the Ghanaian countryside, by the greedy and selfish criminals engaged
in illegal gold mining and illegal logging.

President Mahama deserves the respect and gratitude of all Ghanaians,
for this determined fight by the Ghanaian nation-state, to halt the
rape of the Ghanaian countryside by illegal gold miners and illegal
loggers.

Our political class must therefore unite, and ensure that a bill is
brought quickly before Parliament, and passed into law, which will
make it mandatory for all equipment - including chainsaws; the
trucks used to cart chainsaw lumber; as well as the excavators, vehicles
and other accoutrements - used in illegal logging and illegal gold
mining, to be seized and forfeited to the state.

Additionally, all permits and licenses (including work permits for
foreigners) issued to mining support services companies servicing
small-scale mining companies must be revoked and withdrawn.

It has become obvious that registering as a mining support services
company, is the new ruse being used by the wealthiest and most powerful
amongst the criminal syndicates behind most of the illegal gold mining
that goes on across the country, to provide legal cover for their
crimes against humanity.

It was never meant to be an economic activity, in which 32-tonne
excavators that can destroy what has taken millions of years to evolve,
in a matter of a few hours, are deployed to mine gold to enrich a
wealthy and selfish few, at the expense of the well-being of the rest
of Ghanaian society.

The time has now come for swift action to be taken to close that legal
loophole for wealthy criminals engaged in illegal gold mining in Ghana. A
word to the wise...

Author's note: This piece was written on 9/6/2013. It is being posted today, because I was unable to do so on the day. Please read on:

Driving through a part of Kasoa, apparently known as "High Tension",
at dawn yesterday, I was struck by just how industrious your average
Ghanaian is.

Many people were already up and getting ready for the day.

It is this earnest approach to life, in order to ensure a better
future for their families, which lies at the heart of the wish that
virtually all Ghanaians have that their nation remains peaceful and
stable.

And it is also the reason why no prudent politician in the Ghana of
today, should encourage the violence-prone extremists in their midst -
who sometimes hire thugs to cause mayhem around the country: in
furtherance of their power-at-any-cost agenda.

The danger for our country, is that today's hired-thug causing mayhem
across the country for extremist and power-hungry politicians, is
tomorrow's terrorist - planting bombs for cash, at the behest of Al
Qaeda-type terrorist groups.

And as sure as day follows night, they will hold us all to ransom, in
the end, one day. Ordinary people in Ghana do not deserve such a fate.

That is why the time has now come for all political parties in Ghana,
to offer their support, for those in charge of protecting the
Republic and the government of the day - so that the professionals in
our security agencies can focus on those who actually pose a real
threat to the stability of Ghana: as opposed to harassing those who for
patriotic reasons criticise wrongdoing by those at the helm of affairs
in our country.

Criticising those engaged in high-level corruption, is not treason.

Yet, for years now, for example, an insignificant individual like
myself, has been under surveillance, for no other reason, than that I
have been critical of some influential members of governments of the
day - under both New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic
Congress (NDC) regimes.

That is absurd - and a complete waste of valuable time and resources,
for those whose actual job is to protect our nation from real threats,
such as terrorism and super-wealthy criminals wanting impunity for their
unlawful actions.

It is also the reason why partisan politics ought to be kept out of the
fight against illegal gold mining - which ought to be waged in
relentless fashion, in order to bring that existential-menace to an
end.

As a people, we must never forget that members of the wealthy and
ruthless criminal syndicates, behind much of the illegal gold mining in
Ghana, are all potential warlords in the making.

The strategic alliances they are striking with foreign criminal
elements, seeking to launder dirty-money through illegal gold mining
here, pose a real danger to our country and its democratic institutions.

For that reason, it is vital that new laws authorising the seizure and
forfeiture of heavy earthmoving equipment, vehicles and other
accoutrements used by illegal gold miners in their operations - and,
incidentally, anyone using a 32-tonne excavator is by definition not a
small-scale gold miner: and must therefore not be given a small-scale
mining permit under any circumstances - are passed quickly by
Parliament, under a certificate of urgency.

The time has come for all Ghanaians - including members of our political
class - to unite to defeat the nation-wreckers in our midst, who are
seeking to destroy our peaceful, stable and democratic country, for
purely selfish reasons.

Indeed, ordinary Ghanaians have no choice, but to unite, to defeat the
malevolent forces ranged against their nation. A word to the wise...

Wednesday, 5 June 2013

For some fair-minded Ghanaians, it was extraordinary that those who
allege that the Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Djan,
colluded with President Mahama, to rig the December 2012 presidential
election in the President's favour, objected to his being allowed to
give evidence in the presidential election petition being heard by the
Supreme Court.

For such discerning Ghanaians, it was an unfair legal tactic that was
hard to fathom - and in their view was rightly over-ruled by the
panel of judges.

In search of the truth, what did it matter that Dr. Afari-Djan's
deputy, rather than the chairperson of the Electoral Commission
himself, had signed affidavits covering the Electoral Commission's
documents submitted to the Supreme Court?

To those patriotic Ghanaians who despise the extremists amongst our
political class, that aborted legal manoeuvre by the petitioners' legal
team, illustrates perfectly, the cynicism and ruthlessness of the
hardliners who prevailed on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to agree to
the Supreme Court being petitioned to overturn the declaration by the
Electoral Commissioner, of President Mahama as victor, in the 2013
presidential election.

Clearly, for that small group of NPP the-end-justifies-the-means
hardliners, who remote-control their party from the shadows - and who
are depending on a falsehood to secure the presidency for their
party's defeated candidate - the object of the presidential election
petition before the Supreme Court, is not about seeking the truth as
to what actually occurred during the two days of polling in the 2012
presidential election, but the clever use of arguments and legal
technicalities, to enable them achieve their objective. It is all
"political" - to quote one NPP genius.

There are many fair-minded Ghanaians, for whom it was against natural
justice, and most unfortunate, that those who have openly maligned a
man of great honour, who has served his country diligently as Electoral
Commissioner for many years, and supervised presidential and parliamentary elections, in which there
have twice been transfers of power from one political party to another -
resulting from victories of presidential candidates of opposition
parties in December 2000 and December 2008 - objected to the Supreme
Court allowing Dr. Afari-Djan to give evidence, to ascertain the truth
or otherwise, of their own allegations.

Those NPP hardliners and extremists, for whom the late J. B. Da
Rocha's patriotic principle of a political party putting the national
interest above momentary party advantage, when the country faces an
existential threat, is an alien concept, have brought Ghana to a
dangerous moment in its history.

Those who are making life unbearable for millions of ordinary people,
as they make Ghana "ungovernable", came to the Supreme Court merely to
manipulate the legal system, to enable them obtain what they failed to secure in the
December 2012 presidential election: political power. Alas, they will
fail there too.

To secure its future, when the inevitable happens, one hopes that the
NPP's many decent-minded moderates - whom one is absolutely sure
genuinely believe that the Supreme Court presidential election petition is a principled move
to set a precedent to ensure the sanctity of all future elections -
will move swiftly to seize control of their party, from those
hardliners and extremists, into whose grasping and incompetent hands
their party has fallen. Without them, it could be third-time-lucky for
Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo. A word to the wise...

Monday, 3 June 2013

In 21st century Africa, no political party that does not tolerate
dissenting voices, is likely to appeal to the fair-minded and
independent-minded African (whether educated or not).

A political party of that nature, is also unlikely to be one that brims
with cutting-edge ideas, about moving society forward, which will
attract voters in numbers sufficient enough, to enable it win national
elections in the continent comfortably.

And neither will any political party vying for power in national
elections in 21st century Africa be successful, if the most powerful and
influential individuals amongst its leadership, secretly still hold a
Dark Ages world-view, that somehow members of their ethnic group are
superior beings whose pre-colonial traditional ruling elites'
natural place, ought to be at the helm of the social order.

Above all, in an Africa in which smartphones with internet access to
Facebook and Twitter are all the rage amongst the younger generation,
and thousands of private radio and television stations bring the
latest news to even the tiniest of hamlets on the continent daily, it is folly
of the highest order, for any group of politicians to think that they
can successfully hide the truth from their people, forever.

If they want to still remain relevant in Ghanaian politics, let those
members of our political class, who seem to have forgotten that
democracy is not only a system of government, but is also a way of
life based on tolerance, be guided by all the above.

Over the long run, no political party in 21st century Africa, can
succeed with a Dark Ages worldview - and the sooner Ghanaian political
parties that are failing to rid themselves of the arrogant, intolerant
and violence-prone extremists in their midst, understood that, the
better it will be for them. A word to the wise...

Saturday, 1 June 2013

Genuine private public partnerships (PPP) that actually benefit the
Republic of Ghana - as opposed to opening the doors to the national
treasury for ruthless exploitation by private-sector carpetbaggers -
could provide our nation with infrastructure, at very little cost to
Ghanaian taxpayers.

Since Japan is currently in the news, because it has just hosted a
summit on African development attended by Ghana's President Mahama, I
will use it as an example, to illustrate how genuine PPP projects can
benefit Ghana and private-sector investors equally.

Like many wealthy developed nations, Japan's economy has been in the
doldrums for decades - and its annual GDP figures over the period tell
that unfortunate no-growth-story perfectly.

Fast-growing Ghana, an emerging market blessed with a stable democracy,
and a peaceful political climate, as well as an industrious and
welcoming people, could therefore become a magnet for Japanese
companies, desperate to find lucrative overseas opportunities, in a
global economy now more or less dominated by its arch-rival China.

If those in charge of our nation are creative enough in their thinking,
they could ask Japanese companies with suitable expertise, to bid for a
number of PPP infrastructure projects in Ghana, to be wholly financed
by private investors, such as the following:

(1) A PPP project to build and operate a modern railway system, which
connects all the regional capitals to Accra, and reaches Paga, Elubo
and Aflao as well.

Many Japanese companies are capable of sourcing funding for such a build, operate and transfer PPP project.

(2) Japanese power companies could also be attracted to come to Ghana
to take advantage of Ghana's dream of self-sufficiency in power
generation, and becoming the leading exporter of power in West Africa.

They could build their own gas-fired double-cycle power plants;
offshore wind-power farms; tidal-wave power plants; and mini-hydro
power plants.

To save them from having to build their own power lines and electricity distribution
network, they could be offered the opportunity to takeover the Ghana
Grid Company (Gridco), the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the
Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) - paying their full value and
assuming all their debt - in exchange for charging electricity rates
the two sides deem fit (but which are fair by international power industry standards)
for the 25 years they will be allowed to operate Ghana's power system
as a PPP project financed entirely by them.

(3) Japanese road construction companies could also be given the
opportunity, to construct a concrete tolled motorway network linking
all the regional capitals to Accra, and be allowed to charge their own
toll rates (within reason, naturally) and repatriate 100 percent of
their annual profits tax-free, over the 25-year period they will
operate and maintain that concrete motorway network, which will be
financed entirely by them.

(4) Japanese companies could also be given the PPP opportunity, to
build canals to form a water transportation system, connecting the
south and north of Ghana, based on the Volta Lake.

They could also operate boats (including hovercraft and hydrofoils)
and barges on that water transportation system in addition, for 25 years
- repatriating all their profits tax free.

Ghana's contribution to such PPP projects with Japanese companies, would simply be to:

* Make all imports for the execution of the projects tax-free.

* Ensure that Japanese employed to work on the projects do not have to pay Ghanaian income taxes on their salaries.

* Remove all local bureaucratic impediments to the projects' successful implementation.

The beauty of striking such deals for PPP infrastructure projects, is
that unlike contracting commercial loans for infrastructure projects,
present and future generations Ghanaians, will not be burdened with
the cost of paying for those PPP infrastructure projects, financed and built
by Japanese companies.

Naturally, the agreements covering all the Japanese PPP projects in
Ghana, should state that the construction work must meet and conform to
Japanese standards - which are amongst the most stringent in the world.

The value for Ghana and its people, would be that there would be no
need to use any taxpayers' money, to build a modern rail network
linking all the regional capitals to Accra; build a concrete motorway
network linking all the regional capitals to Accra; have canals linking
the southern half of Ghana to the northern half of the country with the
Volta Lake; and have a modernised 21st century mixed-energy power
system.

Because ethical behaviour is an integral part of Japanese culture,
unlike companies from elsewhere in the globe, Japanese companies tend
to take issues of corporate good governance seriously, when operating
overseas.

For that reason, they will make perfect PPP partners for Ghana - meaning
that they will never cheat us by doing shoddy work in any of their PPP
projects: and above all, they will neither be disrespectful to
Ghanaians nor be contemptuous of Ghanaian culture.

Instead of seeing Japan as a place to take the begging-bowl to, and to
borrow money from, to saddle future generations of Ghanaians with yet
more debt, let those who now rule our nation think creatively - and see
Japan as a perfect source of PPP projects beneficial to Ghana and all
its people. A word to the wise.

Today, youth unemployment has become a global social problem. It is a
problem that governments in nations around the world, both rich and
poor, are grappling with - with varied degrees of success.

Luckily, there are a number of government initiatives in Ghana - the
Local Enterprise and Skills Development Programme (LESDEP) and its
variants being examples - which are creating thousands of
micro-entrepreneurs.

In a sense, initiatives of that nature, are perfect tools for
ensuring social mobility in Ghana, for the marginalised in society. They also create an entrepreneurship culture amongst marginalised and poor communities in both urban and rural Ghana.

In a nation with huge disparities in wealth, that is a vital societal
safety-valve, for preventing possible violent future social
upheaval.

It is for that reason that it is so important that those now running
Ghana, appreciate the fact that such schemes ought to be run
efficiently, and in transparent fashion - because over the long-term,
they have the potential to transform the lives of millions of
marginalised young people, around the country.

Against the backdrop of media allegations of widespread corruption, the
government must move swiftly, to put right whatever has gone
wrong, at the Ghana Youth Employment and Enterprise Development
Agency (GYEEDA).

At the heart of the malaise at GYEEDA, and similar initiatives like it,
is the totally unacceptable greed that seems to underpin its
implementation.

It appears to have ended up becoming a clever money-making scheme for the well-connected. That is unjust and shameful.

In one instance, for example, as much as Ghc400 out of every Ghc500 of
taxpayers' cash, paid per month for each participant - in an
initiative meant to train, equip and empower marginalised and unemployed
youth to become self-employed - ends up being paid to a
private-sector entity as "management fees": in a process whose
hallmark is its structured-opaqueness.

That cannot be justified under any circumstances. The government must
ensure that the bulk of hapless taxpayers' cash, used for all such
initiatives, goes directly into the end-of-training packages designed to set
participants up in business, after successfully completing their
training.

Surely, there are many entrepreneurial and training consultancies in
Ghana, which would happily accept Ghc50 " training and management fees"
per participant per month, to deliver training for GYEEDA's various
"modules", if put out to tender for competitive bidding?

Under no circumstances should egregious crony-capitalism, be allowed
to destroy what is a taxpayer-sponsored way out of the poverty-trap,
for millions of unemployed young people across the country. A word
to the wise...

Author's note: This piece was written on 29/5/2013. It is being posted today, because I was unable to do so on the day.Please read on:

The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr.
Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, is a man I have been critical of, on occasion. So
I cannot possibly be accused of seeing him through rose-tinted
glasses.

His down to earth witness-box-manner, in giving evidence in the
December 2012 presidential election petition currently being heard by
the Supreme Court panel of nine judges, made him come across as an
honest man, earnestly seeking to help the Supreme Court unravel the
truth in the matter before it.

In his last day under cross-examination by Mr. Philip Addison, he went
to the heart of what amounts to a conspiracy against President Mahama,
in simple, plain language.

To paraphrase him, it is untenable that elections in known polling
stations on the ground, could be described as unknown, when voting did
in fact take place in them - and the petitioners' party's designated
polling agents, were indeed present as votes were cast there, and
after the vote-count, when polling ended, duly signed the famous pink
sheets.

In his view, the fact that there had been mispelling of polling station
names, and errors made in recording polling station serial numbers on
the pink sheets (duly signed by NPP polling agents in any case), could
not suddenly turn known polling stations on the ground, in which
voting actually took place, into unknown ones - and that it was wrong
to describe those actual polling stations on the ground in which voting
indeed took place, as unknown polling stations, to the Supreme Court
panel of judges hearing the presidential election petition case.

That particular answer to the petitioners' lead counsel, Mr. Philip
Addison, during his cross-examination of Mr. Asiedu-Nketia, makes it
easy for every discerning Ghanaian, to now come to an understanding of,
and to see the abominable falsehood, which the petitioners want the
Supreme Court to use as justification, for disenfranchising millions
of voters across the country: and deny President Mahama his hard-won
victory, in the December 2012 presidential election.

Speaking personally, for example, from what Mr. Asiedu-Nketia told the
Supreme Court, it is as if the petitioners are seeking to turn the
polling station I am registered to vote in, and in which actual voting
took place on both days that polling took place, and where the NPP's
polling agent signed the pink sheet to approve the vote-count, into a
phantom and unknown polling station, in the petition brought before
the Supreme Court.

Yet, the NPP's polling agent in my polling station, watched the entire
voting process with eagle eyes - as did all who voted there,
incidentally.

He also voluntarily signed the polling station's pink sheet to approve the vote-count.

Yet still, the petitioners insist that it is a phantom and unknown
polling station, in the petition they have brought before the Supreme
Court - merely because the stressed-out and harried presiding officer
in our polling station had mispelt the polling station's name, and made
errors in recording the pink sheet's serial number. Incredible.

Yet, nothing sinister took place in our polling station - despite what
the geniuses who forced the NPP into this legal quagmire, would have
the world believe.

Any mistakes made on the pink sheet from my polling station, were
unintentional - and made in the full glare of thousands of eagle-eyed
voters determined to prevent any vote-rigging. Nothing untoward about
that, is there?

Talk about an Alice-in-wonderland, smoke-and-mirrors-sleight-of-

hand
manipulation of the legal system specifically designed to enable a few
desperate men and women, lustful for power at any cost, to snatch the
presidency from President Mahama.

To that end, an egregious falsehood that seeks to disenfranchise all
those who voted in the polling station that I, and a few thousand
others, registered to vote in, and in which actual voting took place -
has been taken to the Supreme Court. Amazing.

And insincere and selfish individuals are seeking to use an exhausted
presiding officer's inability to spell the polling station's name
correctly, and his error in recording the pink sheet's serial number,
as justification for taking away our constitutional right to vote in an
election in Ghana: in which we duly registered to vote, and were,
and are, indeed, listed on the electoral register. Amazing.

It illustrates perfectly, the mindset of the small band of
too-clever-by-half hawks, who forced the NPP into this dead-end that
will eventually end in ignominy for the party.

Luckily for the NPP, that approaching defeat in the Supreme Court
election petition case, will result in the sidelining of the geniuses
who dreamt up that expensive folly - and make them permanently
irrelevant in the scheme of things in the NPP. That can only benefit the
NPP in the long run. A very good thing that is indeed.

And if the party were to go on to select Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo
yet again, to make a third attempt at the presidency, a 2016
presidential election campaign, free of the baleful influence of that
small band of arrogant hardliners, might indeed stand the NPP's
presidential candidate a far better chance of making it third time
lucky.

Incidentally, in all this, I have never forgotten what Atta Akyea &
Co. said, in the immediate aftermath of the December 2008 presidential
election, in the tape-recording of their shabby attempt to deny the
winner of that election, Professor Mills, the presidency.

Their dastardly plan was simple: use a "right judge" - meaning a judge
known to be secretly loyal and sympathetic to the New Patriotic Party
(NPP) - to overturn the December 2008 presidential election result.

Luckily for Ghana, in that instance, wise heads in the NPP prevailed,
and as the late J. B. Da Rocha made plain, in saying that what they were
embarking on, was neither in the interest of the NPP nor that of
Ghana's, that back-door route to the presidency through the
manipulation of the legal system was abandoned.

Kudos to Johnson Asiedu-Nketia. He has exposed the conspiracy to deny
President Mahama the presidency, after winning the December 2012
presidential election, in simple language to ordinary Ghanaians, who
can, and do think for themselves, in brilliant fashion. Fantastic.

Author's note: This piece was written on the 28th of May, 2013. It is being posted today, because I was unable to do so on the day. Please read on:

If it is true that the public-sector wage bill now eats up as much as a
tad under 70 percent of total tax revenues in Ghana, then taxpayers
ought to demand value for their tax money.

Surely, ordinary people in Ghana, have a right to expect the public
sector to be efficient - and public-sector employees to be helpful,
honest, diligent and highly productive?

Perhaps society ought to listen to those who ask whether the time
has not come for all the political parties in Ghana to unite, and lay
a bill before Parliament, to be passed into law, making it
possible for the President to dismiss senior public officials guilty of
gross dereliction of duty.

Those who make that suggestion, point out the fact that sometimes the
dereliction of duty is so glaring and so egregious, that there is
consensus in the country that those in charge of a particular public
entity, ought to be dismissed instantly.

Yes, we must ensure that public officials have security of tenure, and
that there are safeguards to ensure that they are not victims of
arbitrary action by politicians.

However, the question is: why should ordinary people in Ghana be
constantly inconvenienced, because senior public-sector employees fail
to do the work they are paid so handsomely for, properly?

This is the 21st century, yet, those in charge of the Ghana Water
Company Limited (GWCL), are failing in their corporate mission of
providing Ghanaians with treated drinking-water.

Why should such failure continue to be tolerated - when the
availability of treated water is vital for public health reasons, I ask?

Surely, if the nation is spending such a large proportion of total tax
revenues paying public-sector employees, including those running the
GWCL, not firing those in charge of such a vital public utility
company, for the patchy nature of the delivery of treated water to
Ghanaians, cannot continue to be justified?

Corporate leaders, whether in the private-sector or public-sector, are
hired to solve the problems that confront the companies they head.

If the GWCL cannot deliver water to homes, schools, offices, factories
etc. on a daily basis, why allow those failing to resolve the problems
that confront the company, which hinders its ability to deliver
treated water to cities, towns and villages nationwide, to continue
remaining at post regardless - and be paid zillions of cedis a month,
and enjoy Arabian-oil-Sheik-style perks on top of that, for abject
failure?

How many times have public utilities in Ghana, not promised better
service delivery, when asking for tariff increases - but have failed to
honour those selfsame promises, when regulators have approved the
requested higher tariffs for them?

The only way to ensure that the public sector is productive, is to hold
those in charge of public-sector entities, accountable for their
actions and inaction.

It ought to be specified in the employment contracts of the top echelons
of the public sector, that unless they can justify why that should
not be the case, they will be held personally accountable for the
actions and inaction of those below them.

That will make it more likely that they will ensure that those under
them do what is right at all material times, in terms of fulfilling
their corporate and institutional mandate.

Perhaps if those in charge of the GWCL and other public utilities, such
as the Electricity Corporation of Ghana, knew that failure to deliver
on their companies' core mandate,
would end in their dismissal, Ghanaians would not be inconvenienced to
the extent that they now are, by those public utilities.

Then there are those at the Controller and Accountant General's
Department, for example, some of whose callous attitude towards hapless,
elderly pensioners in the evening of their lives, after serving Ghana
throughout their working lives, has to be seen to be believed.

It is intolerable that so many pensioners are treated so shabbily by
employees of the Controller and Accountant General's Department, after
devoting their working lives to serving their country.

Then there are the endless frauds perpetrated by rogue Lands Commission
officials, who help some wealthy people forge documents, to enable
them steal other people's land.

The question there, is: why do those in charge of the Lands Commission
not show creative leadership, by designing the Lands Commission's
internal processes, in such fashion, that fraud of that nature can
easily be detected - and those found culpable when such fraud is
unearthed, quickly prosecuted for their crimes?

The time has come for Ghanaians to demand accountability from the top echelons of Ghana's public sector.

Top public-sector officials must be fired if they fail to ensure
maximum productivity from those employed in the public-sector entities
they head. Enough is enough.

Author's note: This piece was written on 27/5/2013. It is being posted today, because I was unable to do so on the day. Please read on:

On African Union Day, 25/5/2013, I could not help but turn my thoughts to the young offspring, of Africans in the Diaspora.

I wondered how Africans in the continent could help them get to know
their African roots better - and help them grow up to be well-adjusted
and productive individuals, in the nations they were born in, and are
citizens of.

No African on the continent with links to the UK, no matter how tenuous,
who heard the horrific and shocking news of the gruesome murder at
Woolwich, of the British soldier, Drummer Lee Rigby, 25, by two Britons
of Nigerian descent, suspects Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale,
22, a few days ago, would have failed to have been affected somehow,
by what they heard and saw.

That heinous and abominable crime committed by the two young men, was
unpardonable and unspeakable - and they must be jailed for life.
Literally.

Those who think they can get what they want through violence, are
mistaken. Violence has never resolved any problem anywhere. It only
worsens the situation for all concerned.

Luckily, the vast majority of the foreign-born offspring of Africans in
the Diaspora, are often well-adjusted individuals with aspirations.

However, there is a minority involved with gangs and drugs, who often
get into trouble with the law. And it is a growing problem,
unfortunately

There are many reasons why they become delinquent, but perhaps if those
of them who get into trouble with the law, had had contact with their
parents' and grandparents' countries' of origin, early in life, it is
possible that they might have turned out differently.

Those of us at home in Africa, must encourage our fellow Africans in
the Diaspora to let their offspring connect with the continent - and
teach them African languages at home, as well as let them know about
the cultures of their countries' of origin.

Despite being born in the UK, my own children and grandchildren who live
there, for example, speak Twi and do visit Ghana from time to time.
Being British citizens does not mean they cannot keep the best values
from their grandparents' Akan culture.

Although there are increasing numbers of suitable black role models to
look up to in the USA, Europe and elsewhere in the world where Africans
have settled, coming to Africa, and seeing educated Africans running
nations and working as members of the professions - engineers, ICT
specialists, medical doctors, business executives, lawyers, etc., for
example - will always make a lasting impression on young blacks in the
Diaspora, upon their return to their parents' and grandparents' adopted
countries.

Let us all encourage our friends and relations in the Diaspora to set up
organisations through which young blacks from disadvantaged backgrounds
can be helped financially to visit countries in Africa during school
holidays.

Volunteering in Africa, during school holidays, for example, could turn
out to be life-changing experiences, which can inspire many of the
young foreign-born offspring of Africans in the Diaspora.

It is probable that many of them will return to the nations they were
born in, and live in, after such a visit to Africa, and aspire to
better themselves - instead of ruining their lives joining violent
gangs and extremist religious organisations, which preach hatred and
violence against their fellow human beings.